Autumn Pasquale killing: Brothers were in plain sight; town mourns

During the 48 hours of frantic searching for Autumn Pasquale, joined by hundreds of volunteers from her New Jersey hometown, the teenage brothers accused in her killing were sometimes to be found in plain sight.

They were at a vigil held Monday night in the small town of Clayton, spotted among those still hopeful of finding the 12-year-old alive, according to an Associated Press report. But it was later that night that the body of the 12-year-old was found in a recycling bin.

The pair were arrested Tuesday. Charges against the brothers, 15 and 17, include first-degree murder, disposing of a body and, for the 15-year-old, luring -- persuading Autumn to come into his house to trade BMX bike parts.

Autumn’s friends were reportedly trying to come to grips with her killing.

“It feels like she is still here,” RJ, a friend and classmate at Clayton Middle School told the Courier Post.

Tuesday night, more than 600 crowded the Clayton Baptist Church for an hourlong service for a girl said to have liked BMX bikes, skateboarding and Facebook.

Typically 12, Autumn wrote on a Facebook page, according to the Courier Post: “I like to hang out with my friends and ummmmmm listen to music and ummmmmmmmmmmmmm i play soccer yeppp thts about it.”

Her battered body was found in the bin behind a vacant house neighboring the house where the teen boys lived.

The names of the two brothers have not been released because they have been charged as juveniles. The Associated Press reports that Gloucester County prosecutor Sean Dalton will likely ask that their case be moved to adult court. They are set to appear in court Friday for detention hearings.

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